Ideas

In an Era of Cheap Drones, US Can’t Afford Exquisite Weapons

Various technological advances are about to make hundred-drone swarms a reality, and a nightmare for today’s top-of-the-line weapons.

Ideas

Obama Is About To Launch A New Nuclear Arms Race. There’s a Better Way.

Despite his anti-nuclear words, the president is about to cave to the nuclear arms priesthood.

Policy

GOP Candidates Try to Scare the Hell Out of America

In Thursday's debate, candidates exploited the nation’s anxieties over national security and Obama.

Ideas

Obama's Legacy: Limited Force, Limited Influence, Lingering Questions of What America Should Be

Obama’s long-view for the Middle East stands little chance of playing out as Americans — and events — cry for the U.S. to do more.

Ideas

The Right Way to Fight Boko Haram — and How the U.S. Should Help

Nigeria’s new president is wrong to separate his terrorism problem from his corruption problem.

Ideas

Meet the Air Force’s New Acquisition System

We’re creating a new way of developing, building and buying that works better for the service and the defense industry. Here’s how.

Ideas

China Is On A Collision Course with ISIS

Bejing’s ambitious plan to build links to central Asia and Europe will demand a better counter-terrorism policy.

Ideas

The Rise of Cyber Repression

When even the New York Times is open to tinkering with the First Amendment, it’s time to look at the way groups and governments are shaping our online society.

Ideas

Building Afghan Security Requires a Long-Term U.S. Commitment

Can Americans — and their next president — see past short-term campaign promises to save Afghanistan?

Ideas

What Happens If Russia Loses in Syria?

Putin's war could be unraveling.

Ideas

On ISIS, Europe Is Ignoring Its Long, Tortured History of Waging War Abroad

Even if ISIS could be defeated from the sky, another Western-led regime change is unlikely to lessen brutality in the Middle East or blunt the fervor of zealots in European capitals.

Ideas

5 Big National Security Questions for 2016

U.S. policymakers and triggerpullers will confront a long list of foreign policy challenges around the world.

Ideas

Why Indonesia is Immune to ISIS

Can lessons from countries like Indonesia be applied to volatile countries in the Middle East?

Business

The US Military: An Alternative to the Brutalities of the Modern Economy

Millions of service members who live on military bases around the world experience a kind of economic and social security foreign to most of America’s middle class.

Ideas

Ronald Reagan’s Disarmament Dream

How the former president’s fantasy about space weapons ruined a plan to eliminate the entire U.S. and Soviet nuclear arsenals.

Ideas

Montenegro Will Join NATO — and That Matters

The move shows NATO and Montenegro are denying Russia a veto while progressing towards greater stability in the Balkans.

Ideas

Pakistan's Race to Build Tiny Nukes Is Going to Backfire

Islamabad’s tactical nuclear weapons don’t look so fun for any Pakistani who thinks through the math.

Ideas

Social Movements Are The Next Big Weapon

Governments and non-state actors will increasingly foment citizen protests to topple terrorist states and influence regimes.

Ideas

2016 Predictions: A Look Ahead at the Future of War

New America polled former Navy SEALs, Pentagon officials, technologists, historians — and here’s what they expect.

Ideas

Someone Needs to Run the US Effort to Defeat ISIS Online

Lots of government agencies are doing something; the White House needs to coordinate them.